(Photo Credit: TikTok, Universal Pictures)
Adapted from the hit stage musical, "Wicked" arrived in two parts over the past two years and became a box-office sensation, grossing a combined $1.28 billion worldwide. The films also dominated online conversation, though much of the chatter had little to do with what happened onscreen. Instead, social media users zeroed in on the unusually close friendship between stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande throughout their extensive press tours. Some accused the pair of putting on an act, while others simply found their interactions awkward or strange.
The commentary soon escalated into a wave of image and video memes mocking their behavior, including the example above. Erivo was clearly unimpressed. In a recent interview with The Guardian, she joked that many people had apparently become armchair psychologists from their couches. She said critics seemed strangely irritated by the idea that two women could be friends and share a genuine emotional connection, as if there had to be something wrong with them for showing emotion, crying, laughing or simply feeling things deeply.
Erivo added that it was a double-edged sword, noting that people would have drawn an entirely different set of conclusions if she and Grande had appeared expressionless and emotionally detached. She sarcastically wished someone had given her an approved emotional formula beforehand, telling her exactly which feelings she could display and how far she was allowed to go.
Fans also noticed how fiercely protective Erivo was of Grande. Whether an aggressive fan was trying to grab the pop star or Erivo spotted even the slightest action she believed could hurt her, she would quickly pull Grande into an embrace or comfort her with a kiss. Some social media users jokingly dubbed Erivo Grande’s “bodyguard,” but Erivo not only disliked the label—she also questioned its misogynistic and racist undertones.
Erivo recalled one interview in which a reporter deliberately asked whether she was Grande’s “protector.” The question immediately upset her. She wondered whether her appearance made people feel entitled to frame her loyalty that way, when she would stand up for any friend and would expect her friends to do the same for her. Erivo questioned why that natural instinct suddenly made her a “bodyguard,” calling the intense backlash over such ordinary behavior absurd and saying the situation had gone far too far.
via： The Guardian